


Here Be Dragons

by MonsterKisser9000



Category: Half-Life
Genre: Dragon Gordon AU, M/M, dragon gordon standing normally on all fours is 20' at the top of his head :], for reference also, him Big., i guess this counts as a kind of meet cute but not really?, i have a target audience of 1 person with this au and its ME, no beta we die like half life 1 scientists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:14:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28042236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsterKisser9000/pseuds/MonsterKisser9000
Summary: This just kept getting weirder. First Dr. Popova asks for help with something, then the smart guy can't get his own helmet off, and now he's gotta climb three flights of stairs and get on a catwalk twenty feet off the ground to get it off for him? He'd heard Freeman was tall, but this was ridiculous. Ridiculous, or the most dedicated practical joke he'd ever seen in his life.Barney leaned on the railing and looked down, wanting to get a good look at whoever came through that door.So you can imagine his surprise when he was greeted with an armor-clad paw the size of a car instead.
Relationships: Barney Calhoun & Gordon Freeman
Comments: 9
Kudos: 33





	Here Be Dragons

Another long, boring day full of a whole lot of nothing. An uneventful eight hours bathed by fluorescent lights on way-too-high ceilings, blasted by AC that chuffed and sputtered when it ran, leaned against the wall next to a door that maybe one or two scientists went through on his whole shift. It was exhausting, it was tedious, it was absolutely the least exciting part of his day. But hey, being  _ paid _ to do nothing for eight hours on company time beat doing it for free in his dorm. The guard stretched his arms above his head, making a noise of satisfaction as his back popped and his muscles strained lightly. He quickly dropped them as a scientist peered through the door, a little warm with embarrassment. 

She looked at him with owlish eyes, enlarged further by big round glasses with narrow frames. She had long black hair with white streaks, pulled up into a haphazard ponytail, and the guard would guess she was a fire hazard with all that grease. She was just about his height, but far lankier. Her lab coat hung off her like she was a coat hook and not a scientist, and she had a prosthetic leg from the knee down on one side. She had on a mean scowl, and he caught a glimpse of a hearing aid under her mad mop of hair. The guard knew this woman well. Dr. Popova, the meanest sonnuvabitch you'd ever meet, but an absolute genius. 

"Calhoun," she rasped in her thick slavic accent. 

He pointed to himself quizzically. 

"No," she hissed. " _ Other _ Calhoun. Yes, you. Need your help in lab, now. Quickly quickly." She snapped for emphasis. "A-SAP. We go." She motioned for him to follow, and Barney supposed he had nothing better to do. 

She led him through the halls, past the locker room with the HEV stalls, right down to the entrance to the test lab where there was that big room they never told him anything about. Dr. Popova entered a code into the door to said big secret room and motioned him inside. Barney, not one to argue with Dr. Popova (anybody who did was a maniac,) stepped through the door and waited patiently for her to follow. 

"HEV helmet latch mechanism malfunctioning. You go and take helmet off Freeman, yes?" She mimed lifting a helmet off her head and pointed at him. 

"Sure thing, Doc." Barney couldn't fathom why they couldn't do it themselves, or why  _ Freeman _ couldn't do it himself. He didn't know much about the new guy, but supposedly he was some unusually accomplished physicist or something like that. Why couldn't a PHD student get his own damn helmet off? 

"Good. You go up there and wait for Freeman. Latch is under side vent. Freeman will be out soon, you go  _ now!"  _ She ushered him towards the stairs, pushing him along by his back until he started the ascent. For a lady built like a twig, she was strong.

This just kept getting weirder. First Dr. Popova asks for help with something, then the smart guy can't get his own helmet off, and now he's gotta climb three flights of stairs and get on a catwalk twenty feet off the ground to get it off for him? He'd heard Freeman was tall, but this was ridiculous. Ridiculous, or the most dedicated practical joke he'd ever seen in his life. 

The door to the room from the test lab hissed to life. He thought he heard Dr. Popova call "good luck!" from down below before she left and then he was alone in the room with the machines and whoever was on the other side of that absurdly huge door. Barney leaned on the railing and looked down, wanting to get a good look at whoever came through that door. 

So you can imagine his surprise when he was greeted with an armor-clad paw the size of a car instead. Barney followed the leg up from the paw to a deep, armored chest; and then a long neck twice as thick around as Barney was tall, and then to the helmet he had been commissioned to remove. The thing was absolutely  _ massive.  _ It made Barney feel absolutely miniscule standing next to it as it stepped up to the catwalk right next to him. A warm gust of air from the vent on the side blasted him, and he was struck with the realization that there was something  _ in there. _ Said something rumbled, loud enough to rattle Barney's bones, and the security officer started to draft his two weeks notice right then and there. 

The thing breathed another gust of hot air over him, and then it shifted. It leaned close until it was only a hair away. Barney leaped back, shielding himself from the armored beast's advance, until he realized it wasn't attacking him. It was leaning closer to give him better access, it thought he couldn't reach. 

"Th-thanks… Dr. Freeman?" He finally gathered his courage and leaned over to undo the latch. The notion seemed so ridiculous to him, that this giant…  _ thing _ could be the acclaimed Dr. Freeman, or that it could be a scientist at all. The latch clicked and more hot air blasted him. 

The thing nodded as it patiently watched him powerwalk across the catwalk to the other side, right in front of its-- his?- face, to undo the other latch. Barney caught a glimpse of a single eye, the size of a dinner plate, with a slit pupil slowly following him across the walkway. A robot arm extended down to flip the last latch on the back of the helmet and then two more came to meet it and lift the piece of armor away. 

Barney froze, caught directly in front of the giant creature staring him down, looking him straight in the huge green eyes. Slit pupils narrowed in the bright fluorescents, pale orangey-brown scales caught the white light, and whiskers as long as Barney was tall twitched curiously. The thing- Dr. Freeman, he supposed- lifted it's paws and Barney was  _ sure  _ he was done for, until it brought them closer to its body and, honest to god,  _ signed.  _

A touch to the chin down to an extended paw, bottom up, towards Barney. " _ Thank you. _ " Barney blinked in surprise. 

"Ah, no problem, Doc. B'sides, you think Dr. Popova woulda  _ let _ me say no?" He smiled, despite the trembling through his whole body. Barney felt pinned under Freeman's gaze, like if he tried to move the thing would pounce on him. 

Freeman growled, and it took Barney a moment to realize that he was _laughing._ It was a deep, low noise that he felt more than heard. " _No, I guess not,_ " he signed, punctuated by a little shrug of massive, powerful shoulders that had become armor-free while Barney wasn't paying attention. As soon as Freeman looked away for a moment, he bolted for the stairs. As he gripped the rail and prepared to head for the door, he came to a realization. 

He was going  _ down.  _ When he hit the bottom of the staircase, he'd be on the floor. Once he was on the floor, he'd be in what was possibly an even  _ more _ compromising position than up here right in front of the giant beast's face. He'd be down there, dodging the huge claws that he didn't doubt could crush him like a bug if he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. 

And then he realized Freeman was looking at him again. Owlish green eyes regarded him curiously, almost analytically, while he was frozen at the top of the staircase. Barney gripped the rail with all his might, shaking like a leaf under the eyes that pinned him down. He wasn't sure if this feeling could be described better as feeling like a specimen under a microscope or like a deer in headlights, but either way he was trapped. The scientist-  _ god, _ it was weird to think this thing was a scientist- watched him curiously. He cocked his head and his eyes flitted to the stairs. Freeman expected him to move. 

"Ahah, sorry, doc. I, ah.. I've got a fear a' heights." Barney smiled, maybe a bit too toothily, and vice gripped the railing. All his training for this position, all one-hundred and sixteen hours of it, and not a second had prepared him for the absolutely  _ terrifying _ experience that was Gordon Freeman. Freeman blinked at him, tail flicking, as he stepped away from the stairs, making room for him to come down safely. Barney gathered all his courage once again and slowly started to make his way down the stairs, accompanied the whole way by intelligent green eyes boring holes into his back and the ambient growly noise of Freeman's breathing. 

His boots finally touched down on solid ground, and he would be thankful if it didn't mean he felt even smaller than before. He stood up to Freeman's shin,  _ maybe _ , and the scientist stared down at him curiously like he was a particularly interesting bug he found on his desk. The big eyes blinked at him, and then disregarded him in favor of slipping out the door and into the hallway. Barney stumbled backwards to stay far out of the way of his paws and tail, watching with wide eyes as they passed him. If this is what ants felt like, he'd never kill one again. It was  _ terrifying _ just being in his presence. He  _ knew _ that no matter how much of a daunting beast Freeman was, he was a  _ scientist,  _ a  _ poindexter _ , but he just couldn't shake the notion that he could snap him in half like a twig if he so much as flicked the end of his tail the wrong way. 

Barney was shaken from his daydreaming by two realizations: Freeman was staring again, and he was shaking in his boots. He shook his head and looked back at the beast staring him down, and realized it was less of an "I'm about to pounce" look and more of an "are you coming?" look. He would rather not be alone with the thing that was about a hundred times his size, but he had no other choice if he didn't want to look like he was avoiding him. There was, after all, only one exit.

"I'm a-comin', don't worry." Barney started off after him, inching between the door and Freeman's tail, and slowed his pace to stand at his side. He did his best to push down any more shaking as he felt the warmth radiating off the scientist. Barney took the moment to observe more closely. Heat really  _ did  _ come off him in steady waves, and his scales shone in the light. The short mane along his back was well-groomed and soft-looking, waving and bouncing as he walked. Barney could feel every step shake the hallway as he walked, and he was nearly running to keep up. He skidded to a stop next to Freeman, on the edge of the tram platform now. A few scientists and guards had moved casually out of Freeman's way, and he nodded to them as he stood and stretched lightly.

Barney rocked awkwardly from his toes to his heels, then back again. "Soo… Don't think I ever caught your first name, Doc."

" _ Gordon," _ he replied with a little smile. " _ I don't think I caught yours, either."  _

"Barney, Barney Calhoun, since ya didn't get my last name either." Barney smiled right back, genuine and not shaky or toothy this time. "Good t'meetcha, Gordon. Sorry for givin' ya a hard time earlier. Wasn't exactly expectin'..." He gestured vaguely to Gordon. 

" _ I understand, _ " he replied. " _ I'm not exactly the most personable scientist in the facility. I'm used to it."  _

"Well, that's a shame. You're a real stand-up guy." Barney nodded to himself, satisfied with his words. 

Gordon made a little purring noise in his chest, smiling and squinting at Barney. " _ Thank you. You as well."  _ He nodded and stood up, flexing those giant wings. The small gaggle of employees gave him a wider berth. " _ I should be going. I'll see you around, Barney."  _

"See ya, Doc!" Barney waved, and Gordon waves back. Then the scientist turned his back to him and spread his wings, giving them a firm beat before lifting off the edge of the platform and whisking away down the tunnel just before the tram arrived. Barney stumbled as the gust of wind from the powerful wings blasted him, nearly knocking him onto his ass, and planted his feet firmly on the ground again just in time to catch his tram home. As the car pulled away, he leaned on the window and wondered idly. 

_ Where do they even dorm a guy that big? _

  
  



End file.
